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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30086079">Light Reflects The Truth</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/FeralCoffeeBug/pseuds/FeralCoffeeBug'>FeralCoffeeBug</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Hollow Knight (Video Games)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Deepnest (Hollow Knight), Dreamcatcher, F/F, First radi/herrah fic lets hit it, I am a Radiance apologist, Misc Minor background characters, Post-Embrace the Void Ending (Hollow Knight), Radiance is just morrally grey, The Radiance is mortal, The ship name? Dreamcatcher, Time Travel, by complete accident, eventually, infection mention, murder mention, plague mention, she knows what she did got out of hand, this is so self indulgent</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 20:54:47</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,767</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/30086079</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/FeralCoffeeBug/pseuds/FeralCoffeeBug</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The Radiance is defeated by a small vessel, however halfway through a long painful process the Radiance finds herself on a cold floor. She soon figures out that she is in Deepnest, unsure as of why she is found and brought to the Queen of the land. </p><p>Soon enough Radiance realizes that she is at a time before the infection was enacted.</p><p>What sort of adventures will the Moth go through now that she is mortal? How long until she truly realizes what he actions had caused? Will it be enough for her not to do it once more?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Herrah the Beast/The Radiance</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>34</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Brightness Will Light The Way</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>“Oi! I found a moth!” the bug called out as Radiance moved her hands to rub at her eyes. She was shivering harshly,”It looks halfway to death, seems to be shivering like a newborn spiderling!”</p><p> </p><p>Radiance spoke up with a soft,”I have a name you know.” Her voice was soft, shaking every other syllable and she couldn’t get it under control.</p><p> </p><p>“It speaks! What is it then?” The spider seemed accusative.</p><p> </p><p>“I…” Radiance should have thought this through, but instead she panicked and said the first name she could think of, “It’s….Novalen…?”</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The burning in her chest blossomed outwards as she struggled against the bounds that her ancient enemy had laid her in. She knew that the new Shade of Lords was not anything good, and that this meant nothing good for </span>
  <em>
    <span>anyone</span>
  </em>
  <span>. She let out a loud cry as the void seemed to almost drown her. Vaguely she thought that this was karma for what she put that vessel through. However she was in too much pain to think about this for very long. </span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>She almost felt like she couldn’t breath, she didn’t like this feeling, floating in nothing but pitch darkness. She didn’t want to die, </span>
  <em>
    <span>she couldn’t die. Not here, not now.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p><span>Soon the pain that lapped at her soon faded away, leaving her more confused than relieved. If the pain was gone even though the Lord of Shades held her and played with her life in their hands. Was this some sort of trick to get her to let her guard down. She could feel the floor under herself, the coldness helped to jolt her back to a clear mind. That… </span><em><span>that</span></em> <em><span>wasn’t </span></em><span>normal.</span></p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Wasn’t it?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>With a soft groan she pushed herself up onto her claws, her eyes fluttering open as she looked around. This was definitely </span>
  <em>
    <span>not</span>
  </em>
  <span> where she was last. She was...she was fighting the small vessel in some arena-like area...yeah. That’s what she was doing. So </span>
  <em>
    <span>what happened</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As her head lifted she heard a soft hiss and the soft tapping of needle thin legs against the floor. This only confused her more. However her attempts at looking around was short stumped by the fact that she couldn’t see more than a foot in front of her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Ah, just wonderful</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The moth put out a hand in front of her to push off of the ground. She looked down to her hands after standing, they were shaking just barely. She let out a soft breath and watched as the air fogged and curled around the colder air. </span>
  <span></span><br/>
<span><br/>
</span>
  <span>She didn’t understand, and this was only confusing her more. Her hands pulled back to her chest as shivers wracked her body, her shoulders hunched over herself as she felt the cold brush against her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She couldn’t help herself from letting out a soft cough, then a short sob. She was overwhelmed, she was scared. Most of all she was alone. She never did well alone, she never did well in situations like this. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She let out a soft cough before pushing herself to take a step. Then another. Soon she was shakily walking through the darkness. She wrapped her arms around herself as she walked. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She kept hearing skittering and yet she could see nothing. She heard something, was it someone else?! </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She perked up and her antennae went up in happiness as she moved throughout the darkness. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>However she didn’t get far before a lanturn shined on her. She flinched harshly at that.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oi! I found a moth!” the bug called out as Radiance moved her hands to rub at her eyes. She was shivering harshly,”It looks halfway to death, seems to be shivering like a newborn spiderling!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Radiance spoke up with a soft,”I have a name you know.” Her voice was soft, shaking every other syllable and she couldn’t get it under control.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It speaks! What is it then?” The spider seemed accusative.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I…” Radiance should have thought this through, but instead she panicked and said the first name she could think of, “It’s….Novalen…?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You seem a little hesitant on that one there.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m not.” She hissed softly as she moved to cover herself once more, it was cold here.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Okay Novalen, let's get you to the queen,” The spider turned,”Come along.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“The queen?” Radiance, or her new name, she decided, Novalen was very confused, she didn’t understand what queen they were talking about,”Why should I come with you?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’re lucky that we don’t just kill you here and now.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>This made Radiance go quite. She didn’t want to die, she had no clue if she would die for good if she died now. The Radiance always had a fear of dying, and she didn’t want to revisit it so soon since the last time she had a fear for her life.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And as such she put one foot in front of the other and followed the spiders. They could crawl on the walls and ceiling but she had to walk on the floor. The rest of the walk was silent other than a few of the spiders they passed by talking in hushed voices to one another while looking at her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She could guess that her fluff could be seen as odd in such a dark and daff place, especially from a moth in a place where there seemed to only be spiders. It was curious, yet Novalen had more pressing matters to attend to.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That being where they were going, while she wasn’t paying attention she found herself with the one spider that told her to follow in a large room with no way to get up and yet many balls that she could guess was something similar to homes. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There were some spiders quickly spinning silk and connecting it to other balls of silk that were strong enough to make a nice shell for a house, they were building them. They seemed to be making their way down. It had to take a while to get even just one done.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>If the residents of this area were mostly spiders the lack of way to get up from the very bottom made sense. Why would they need platforms when they could just climb?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So Novalen, I take it you would be able to get up yourself,” The spider had asked, and after getting a confused look from said but, they motioned to her wings. Novalen went wide eyed before flapping her wings just slightly to catch the air.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After deeming it good enough to fly in she nodded. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I can trust you to not run off the moment I start the assent?” This spider really did not trust her did they?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I won’t run, that would be counter productive as I have very little idea where we even are.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Apparently this was deemed a good enough answer and the spider started up the wall. Novalen, in the meantime, gathered as much strength as she could. She didn’t have to use true physics in a long while to fly. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pushing off the floor and flapping her wings downwards seemed to have done the trick, and soon enough she was soaring through the air. She kept her eyes on the spider, trying to follow them as closely as possible without risking her own fluff.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Soon enough she was able to land on a platform, and the spider came running up to her. They still didn’t trust her even though she could have easily just left without them being able to stop her. She was about to speak up about this but decided that it maybe wasn’t best to bring that up when the weaver had already threatened her wellbeing once now.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She didn’t wish to have that threat become a reality. So she followed the other quietly. She wanted to keep herself as noticeable as possible. She let out a soft sigh as she walked behind them. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But then they walked into the largest room, on the inside was nicely lit with lights on a string of silk that were strewn about the room. There were some chairs set up around and the spider went up the wall to go through a door on the ceiling. They held it open for Novalen.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Novalen used her wings to fly up into the space, landing on the floor gracefully. The spider scoffed as they continued onwards.She made a face at the scoff before following once more. And as they approached a room Novalen felt a sinking feeling in her gut. She felt as if she was walking straight to her death.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But she pushed on, following the spider into the room. At the moment the two stepped into the room, she was greeted with the spider queen. She was smaller than Novalen, yet she was still a very large bug. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Novalen would have to take a few moments to admire the beauty of this bug, she hadn’t spent a lot of time paying attention to mortals to really see any she found necessarily </span>
  <em>
    <span>pretty.</span>
  </em>
  <span> However she would definitely call this one quite pretty, and strong looking. She really hoped that this bug was more on the nicer side. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A neutral gaze landed on the two bugs that had entered, and Nova didn’t know how to feel about this look she was being given.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Lemues, What is it you bring, or shall I say </span>
  <em>
    <span>who</span>
  </em>
  <span>?” The queen leaned forward toward the two newcomers to the room. The spider, Lemues, stepped forward and gave a bow,”Queen Herrah! My friends and I found this moth shivering and lost. I thought the best course of action was to bring her here.” they seemed to be rather casual in tone.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Your name is?” That gaze was directly on her, and the name she stuck herself with rolled off her tongue easily. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“My name is Novalen. I apologize if I cause any sort of problems with my presence Queen Herrah.” She did a bow of respect as Lemues had before.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Herrah seemed to find this amusing, smirking to herself,”So what is a brightly colored moth like yourself even doing in Deepnest. Something tells me you are not from that Wyrms kingdom.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh I sure would hope not.” Novalen made a loot of disgust at the idea of </span>
  <em>
    <span>ever</span>
  </em>
  <span> being a part of </span>
  <em>
    <span>his</span>
  </em>
  <span> kingdom. It was an opinion the two shared. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So what is a fragile thing like you doing here. You may be tall, however something tells me that you aren’t one to fight.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Novalen would find herself wondering how well Herrah could read others, she never did enjoy violence. She would always have prefered talking things over. That was until the Pale Wyrm attacked one of </span>
  <em>
    <span>her</span>
  </em>
  <span> moths. She couldn’t stand for that. She couldn’t stand for such a low blow.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I would say you are correct. I prefer to not fight. But I am rather capable in that regard.” She leveled her voice, trying to sound as non threatening as possible.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Okay then Novalen, do pray tell what you wish to achieve via coming to Deepnest.” Herrah’s eyes narrowed in suspicion at the tall moth.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Novalen mentaly cursed herself, her next answer was </span>
  <em>
    <span>not</span>
  </em>
  <span> going to dispel any suspicion. She let out a soft sigh as she thought of the best way to put her answer, “You see...I don’t know why I am here in Deepnest. However I do hope you will not force me to leave just yet. You see I do not feel well. I am very tired, and so now I am hoping to have a place to rest for at least until overmorrow.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Herrah seemed to accept this answer, letting her hands fall from where they were pressed together in front of her. She stood up and a short shot of fear overcame the weakened moth.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>However she soon found she had no reason to fear the spider at this moment. She walked up to the taller bug then passed her,”Come along then.” She said as she walked back through the door Lemues and herself came through in the beginning of this conversation.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Novalen was quick to follow, staying rather quiet. She wasn’t sure what she could say without angering this bug, and she </span>
  <em>
    <span>really</span>
  </em>
  <span> didn’t need another bug coming after her life right now. She was just way too tired right now. The reality of what was happening was for future her to deal with.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Eventually Herrah stopped in front of a door with a silk curtain over it. She pushed the curtain open to let the moth step through.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Inside seemed to be a rather basic bedroom, a nest, some lights, and a place to store your things.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“While you are here this room is yours. You may stay as long as you don’t pose any threat nor make any problems. If you pose a threat you will not pose one for long.” Herrah said as if she was making an observation. Novalen felt shivers shook down her back. She definitely did </span>
  <em>
    <span>not</span>
  </em>
  <span> want to anger the Queen of Spiders.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thank you Ma’am.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You may call me Herrah.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That was the last word that was exchanged before Herrah slipped away from the doorway, off to do whatever she was doing before the interruption.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The tiredness Novalen was fighting this entire time soon caught up with her, and she walked to the nest, collapsing into it and curling up to sleep off the light pains and exhaustion. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The problems she had nagging at the back of her mind was for future Novalen.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Time Is A Fickle Thing</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>It was only then she realized that the child was looking directly at her.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Novalen quickly ducked away, but she wasn’t fast enough to not hide from the child. She heard a shrill shriek of joy, “Down! Down! Down! Mamma put me down!” Novalen cursed her luck with this. She couldn’t believe she got caught by the toddler.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>When Novalen had awoken the next day she had moved her arms to stretch. A sharp cracking sound came from her which made her jump. She moved them again and everything seemed just fine. It took her a while to move off the bed, a slight fear that the noise signified something deeper than just a sound.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Yet there seemed to be no such injury. There was nothing that seemed wrong, in fact she could support her weight fully on her arm. She let out a soft sigh of relief as her other two arms draped down. She needed to get out of her bed, she needed to ask Herrah if she could do anything in return for her kindness.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She let her legs hand off the side of the bed for a moment, taking deep breaths before standing up, she had to get ready to face the day. Something told her that today was going to be tense, and so she would need to steady herself, she would need to prepare herself for how many questions she was going to ask.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>However her plans evaporated when she heard Herrah’s voice. She seemed to be talking to someone’s voice who was quiet and quick in talking. When Novalen looked around the corner the sight she saw was quite shocking.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>In the next room there stood a short little bug, donned in striking silver grey that stood out as odd against the more natural colors of the Beast’s Den. Novalen stopped walking, barely even breathing so that she could catch the words being exchanged.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“...fection seems to have disappeared.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“It what?” Herrah was in disbelief. Novalen could hear her move. “It can’t have just ‘disappeared’ after all of this.” She hissed.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Nova pressed her body against the wall, wanting to get more of the words, she could hear better this way.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>However, when she heard the next words she had almost wished she took a while longer getting up this morning.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“T..The infection-” The bug, whoever it was, seemed to be rather terrified of the beast.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, if the Wyrm wants to discuss something about my daughter, then tell him to come </span>
  <em>
    <span>here</span>
  </em>
  <span>. I refuse to go to Hallownest and especially refuse to step foot in the palace unless necessary.” She hissed out, and it was only then that Novalen got a glance of what was going on once again. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Herrah had what looked like a bundle of red cloths. At least that was what Novalen thought until she saw a bit of a white mask with pitch black eyes within the red fabric. It looked like...</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>A sharp realization hit the moth, this </span>
  <em>
    <span>was</span>
  </em>
  <span> the red cloaked bug that she was in the vessel’s memories. This was the bug that she had seen around Hallownest. She was always both wanting to help and to murder the small vessel. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It was only then she realized that the child was looking directly at her.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Novalen quickly ducked away, but she wasn’t fast enough to not hide from the child. She heard a shrill shriek of joy, “Down! Down! Down! Mamma put me down!” Novalen cursed her luck with this. She couldn’t believe she got caught by the toddler.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Herrah sighed softly and things went quiet for a bit. There was shuffling before the talking started up again, however Novalen wasn’t able to pay attention for long before a bundle of frills and red cloth barreled into her. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Novalen looked at the child and softly cleared her throat before speaking,”Hello there small one.” Her voice hitched on one of the words as she tried to speak them. She felt some fear.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>However this was dispelled soon after by the overdramatic roar that the small child had done.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>This unwavering reaction Novalen gave did not escape Hornet’s knowledge, ”Hey!” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Novalen jumped harshly. “Yes-”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re supposed to be scared.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Oh?</span>
  </em>
  <span>” she questioned, feeling a tad more comfortable now that the child seemed more interested in her attention rather than any sort of turning her in for eavesdropping. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes! I’m big and scary!” Hornet beamed before continuing with a slightly more hesitant, “...Or so Momma says I’m gonna to be...” Novalen didn’t have the heart to say she would inherit her dad’s stature. It was too adorable seeing her excited about child things. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>The way a child should be.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She didn’t think about how she was the reason that Hornet never got to be a child, she didn’t think about it and it wouldn’t keep her up at night.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>A small hand reaching up and the sensation of something batting her antenna brought Novalen back to the present. She focused on the small child in a </span>
  <em>
    <span>very</span>
  </em>
  <span> fancy dress. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She let out a soft chuckle and a soft, ”I’m sure you will be, you’re already so strong.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You never told me you were good with kids.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Novalen jolted harshly and looked up to see Herrah standing in the doorway, two of her arms crossed over her chest.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I didn’t… It slipped my mind? We didn’t really talk for long…”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Herrah seemed to find this answer quite funny, a gruff chuckle coming from her. Novalen would have flushed softly if she wasn’t preoccupied with the spiderling still halfway in her lap.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Momma! Momma! Look I caught it!” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Novalen raised an antenna in confusion at the small child, but Herrah seemed to be used to her child.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Good job Hornet, me and Nova here have to discuss something so why don’t you go and play in your room.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay!” She stood up and waved to Novalen before running off, presumably to her room.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Novalen looked up to the queen and a few moments passed. She let out a soft sigh as she pushed off of the ground to stand up. “We need to talk about something?” She asked, trying to keep her tone level when she asked.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes, from how my daughter had you I would assume you heard what the Pale King’s advisor was talking to me about?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Novalen felt her cheeks begin to burn in embarrassment, lucky her fluff hid the color, ”I did, the infection?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Herrah crossed her arms tighter as her mouth seemed to go into a thin line. This was obviously something she didn’t like.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>An inkling of guilt and shame flickered in the Radiance, knowing that she was the reason behind the entire infection.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“The Wyrm’s advisor had shared the news that it seems to have disappeared overnight when they brought back my daughter from her father’s.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>This caused Novalen to raise her head, looking up to the spider who had not moved from her spot in the doorway.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“It...It </span>
  <em>
    <span>what?</span>
  </em>
  <span>” Her voice wavered just barely as she tried to wrap her head around what had happened</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Disappeared. I take it you know what caused this plague via your reaction.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well...Yes. My...Well my goddess,” she lied, trying to think of what to say, ”She caused it, she’s determined so I was surprised that it is no longer a problem.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>A harsh glare made her jump. ”You still worship such a goddess that would bring terror across so much and leave so many dead where they stand.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Novalen blinked dumbly at that, a hand brought to her chest under her wings. Guilt curled in her, sinking its claws and roots into her entire being. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>As time went on it would grow. Grow and grow. But as of now it simply made her gut curl in a terrified and shameful way.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I… No I don’t. I don’t condone her actions,” She… Well, she didn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>lie</span>
  </em>
  <span>, but that didn’t matter. No one knew why she had done it, and she couldn’t explain this now. Besides, it wasn’t like she would do it again if she even could at this moment.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Good,” Herrah didn’t explain more, turning to look down the hall that the doorway led into. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>There stood the small little spider, rubbing her eyes with one hand while holding the other out to her mother.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Momma...Momma I hurt my hand.” She walked over and Herrah scooped the small girl into her arms, holding the hurt child like she was the most fragile thing in the entire kingdom. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Herrah held her in two of her arms while holding the child’s hurt hand in one of her other hands. She let out a soft sigh, “It’s just a small cut little one, you’ll be just fine.” She leaned over and nuzzled the child softly on the forehead.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Hornet lifted her other hand up to grab her hurt arm,”B...But it hurts, Momma!” She held onto Herrah with one of her lower set of arms.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The Radiance had not known about that extra set, but now Novalen did. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Herrah cooed very softly,”So be it. Nova.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Novalen jumped at this new nickname, only occurring to her now. ”Yes?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Go find Lemues, they will show you where you can get some food. Don’t get sick, it wouldn’t be very helpful now would it.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>With that the queen of Deepnest left the moth standing in the hallway, carrying the small spider who seemed to want to keep eye contact with Nova until they rounded the corner.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Nova let out a heavy sigh, leaning against the wall for a moment. Just a few moments is all she needed. A few deep breaths from that encounter....</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>And she pushed herself off of the wall, she was hungry and Herrah had told her to go find that spider that showed her this in the first place. It couldn’t be that hard right?</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I really Really Love Baby Hornet</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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